You may have seen on instagram last month that Rich & I took a cross country road trip which we called #combingamerica. We started in San Francisco and drove the southern border of the U.S, and then up the east coast (our final destination being Brooklyn where we will be living for the next six months).
We wanted it to be a month of inspiration, and it definitely was. There’s something about being on the move that makes you think about your goals, passions, and new ideas.
We’ve had a lot of people asking about the trip – where we went, how we did it, what our favorite place was… so I thought I’d break it all down here for those that are interested.
WHERE WE WENT
San Francisco » Los Angeles » San Diego » Palm Springs » Joshua Tree » Scottsdale (Taliesin West) » Tucson (Saguaro National Park) » Wilcox, AZ (Chiricahua National Monument) » Las Cruces, NM » White Sands National Monument » Marfa, TX » Austin, TX » Dallas, TX » New Orleans » Savannah » Charleston » Greenville, SC » Chapel Hill, NC » D.C » N.Y.C
HOW WE DID IT
A few months before the trip, we both left our full time jobs as product designers, and started our own consulting company called Hexagon. Since we can do our design work from anywhere, we were able to work while on the road. Our car has the option of paying for wifi, so we did that for the month. Pretty much wherever there is cell service, we could get some internet while traveling. Although it was pretty slow (3G at best), it did the job. At times, we would stop in parking lots for a few hours to crank some work out, and then continue on. We also got used to taking advantage of hotel check out times and working through the morning before continuing on.
HOW MUCH RENT ON THE ROAD COST US
Since we were in between apartments, we viewed each of the hotels/ motels that we stayed at as our rent for the month. We decided to stay at a few nice places (The Ace in Palm Springs, a cool cottage in Joshua Tree, El Cosmico in Marfa), but we also got pretty cozy with the Days Inn. We were also lucky enough to have some friends & family to stay with along the way. We totaled out at $2,219 for housing for the month. The trip could have even been significantly cheaper if we hadn’t splurged on the nicer hotels at times (they accounted for about half of the month’s housing costs).
OUR FAVORITE SPOT
Hands down, our favorite spot was White Sands. As soon as we arrived, it felt like a totally different world. I have a whole post on it here. We just couldn’t stop smiling it was that cool.
It was a really special trip for us. A lot of people will say to us that they wish they could take time to do something like this. That’s exactly what we were saying about six months ago. We took a lot of uncomfortable steps, and did a lot of unfun things (say goodbye to coworkers/ friends, clean out our whole apt, etc) to make it happen… but I just want to remind you that anything is possible.
Let me know if you have any other questions about the trip, I’d be happy to answer!
Next time Nikko and I are coming!